Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is my go-to Chocolate Chip Cookie, with a soft and gooey middle, crisp edges, and a generous helping of chocolate chips. No chilling or wait time required.

Having tried a zillion chocolate chip cookie recipes over the past 10 years, this one has solidified its place as the most satisfying for what I want in a cookie.

I know this is quite subjective.

Frankly, there are many different styles, sizes, and textures for chocolate chip cookies and I enjoy many of them.

But there are a few qualities that are most important to me.

Demand #1. I don’t want to wait for chilled dough – I want cookies NOW

I’ve played around with “aging” chocolate chip cookie dough after reading articles about how much better it makes the cookies.

Is it better?

Maybe a little, but truthfully, I care most about how fast a recipe is. I hate waiting for doughs to chill. I am impatient. Me want cookie NOW. 

So this recipe is quick. There’s no chilling whatsoever, and you don’t even have to set out butter ahead of time to soften, as this recipe uses melted butter.

And the flavor is still plenty delicious without “aging.”

Demand #2. I want multiple textures in one cookie, not just soft, or just crispy

Sure, every once in a while I’ll crave those crispy Tate’s-style cookies that are completely crunchy the whole way through, but my ideal cookie has crispness, softness, and gooeyness.

I want it all.

These cookies have a crunchy edge, with a soft, melty, gooey interior.

You can also bake a little less or a little more to get it even closer to your preference, if you like it one way over the other.

Demand #3. No weird ingredients or equipment, please

I’ve seen various “secret ingredients” and little tricks claiming to make chocolate chip cookies different, but none that I’ve tried have proved to be worthwhile.

This cookie has only the classic ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.

No cornstarch, no cream cheese, no boiling water, no cinnamon (?!), no cream of tartar, no lemon (why?!?!), and so on.

For equipment, you really just need the simple things, like bowls, a whisk, and a spatula. I whip the cookies up with a hand mixer, but you can totally do this by hand too.

This is a recipe I’ve been playing with since 2010, and it has been tweaked bit by bit from where it started, which was probably something close to the 1930s Tollhouse recipe. Here are the noteworthy features:

• Melted butter instead of softened gives it a nice chewiness, and my favorite texture.
• A 2:1 ratio of brown sugar to granulated sugar also gives it a chewier, softer texture. Don’t worry, these aren’t crazy chewy like Molasses Cookies, it’s subtle.
• Scooped mounds of cookie dough gives the cookies ridges, an awesome texture, and somehow, a more even bake. Don’t roll the cookies.
• After testing these cookies on multiple cooking surfaces, I find that they brown best and spread the least on a Silpat. You may use parchment paper or bake directly on the pan though, if you’d like, but there will be slight variations with each surface.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a bowl:

Mix that together just enough so that the three ingredients are smooth and combined, then add a room temperature egg and vanilla extract:

I quickly warm the egg by putting it in warm water for a few minutes. Otherwise, a cold egg straight from the fridge will solidify the melted butter and make it uneven.

Mix together until smooth, then add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt):

When the flour has *almost* disappeared, add some semisweet chocolate chips:

Mix a little more, until the flour has been absorbed:

Use a medium cookie scoop (#40/1.5 tbsp) (affiliate) to scoop mounds of cookie dough onto a Silpat lined baking sheet:

I tested rolling them into smooth balls in the palms of my hands, and it is MUCH better scooped.

The little ridges and unevenness here somehow gives it a more even, desirable bake in the oven.

Sprinkle the tops with fleur de sel, if you really want stellar cookies. The salt is so lovely.

Bake the cookies for about 11-12 minutes.

You can see that the edges are brown, but they look pretty colorless on top:

Even though it may look too soon to pull from the oven, that is the perfect time to pull them. The cookies will cook a little bit more outside the oven, and after a few minutes, the domed shape will fall a little bit.

You can see here, if you look closely and compare it to the photo above:

I think they are best when enjoyed warm, so dig in!

Note: I have also tested these as larger cookies, scooped using a large #60 3T scoop (affiliate). They need a few more minutes of bake time, but they are also delicious (but I like the #40 size better). The larger ones tend to brown more on the edges, if that’s your thing:

Peanut Butter Cookies,  Monster Cookies, and Snickerdoodles are some of my other favorite cookies to bake, fresh out of the oven. Enjoy!

How well do these Chocolate Chip Cookies store? You can keep these at room temperature, in an airtight container, for several days, and they’ll still be soft and delicious. They are best fresh out of the oven, but leftovers are easily devoured too.

Freezing cookie dough: Like other chocolate chip cookie recipes, dough scoops can be frozen and baked later, with a few more minutes of bake time added at the end. I find that they don’t spread as evenly as freshly baked though.

Post updated in March 2019. Originally published December 2010.